I'm looking over how DoTs that are refreshed indirectly interact with player state. It seems like the general rule of thumb is:

DoTs directly applied take and retain the player's current stats when they were applied.

Existing DoTs that are refreshed are updated to the player's current stats after the current tick.

The way Ferocious Bite refreshes Rip at sub-25% doesn't seem to follow these rules. The power of DoC is that we can get a powerful Rip on the target and keep refreshing that Rip via FB until the target is dead while retaining the original stats on the Rip.

Are there other refreshed DoTs in WoW that also behave this way, or is this unique to Rip/FB?

Rip didn't even do this in Cata. This behavior started in the MoP beta. Leafkiller, myself and others reported the behavior on the forums during the beta. As nothing was done, it was either a big oversite, or they just chose to let us keep this as our form of Execute. I don't know exactly how this goes but I have been hearing about Unholy DK's being able to keep buffs rolling on their refreshed DoTs. Other then that I don't know any other class that behaves like this.

Hmmm, now I'm quite curious. A hunter's Chimera Shot will refresh the duration of Serpent Sting to it's full duration as well. I wonder if Serpent Sting behaves like Rip and keeps its original stats when refreshed by Chimera Shot in this way.

I wonder if the general rule of thumb should be amended. For instance, Shred can extend the duration of Rip, much like Festering Strike will extend duration of existing DK diseases, and in those cases, the DoT retains its originally snapshotted player stats. If the same holds true for Serpent Sting and Chimera Shot above, then it appears that if the ability doesn't actually apply the DoT but only refreshes the duration or extends an existing DoT, then the DoT's power remains unchanged. For abilities that actually apply the DoT, e.g., Rake on a target that already has Rake, the DoT gets a new snapshot of the player's stats.

Does anyone with an alt of the appropriate class feel sufficiently interested to test this theory? I'm just trying to improve the way DoTs are tracked in Ovale so that @aggixx can write better action lists.

There is no rule of thumb as far as I know. Shred adds ticks to the dot and doesn't resnapshot, Festering Strike adds ticks to the dot and doesn't resnapshot. Touch of Chaos and Fel Flame add ticks to the dot and do resnapshot.

My understanding is they choose whether or not an ability resnapshots on an individually basis and abilities that perpetually refresh a DoT tend to resnapshot, Rip, for whatever reason, being the exception to that rule.

Jeshu wrote:A hunter's Chimera Shot will refresh the duration of Serpent Sting to it's full duration as well. I wonder if Serpent Sting behaves like Rip and keeps its original stats when refreshed by Chimera Shot in this way.

Could be wrong but I don't believe it does. I believe Rip is the only full refresh mechanic that does not resnapshot.

And the only thing that isn't in the snapshot state of a dot is Crit Multiplier which behaves dynamically, everything else (AP, SP, crit, haste, mastery if applicable) snapshots and as far as I know there are no exceptions to this.

Let's assume that I apply "weak" Rip (no TF, Potion, trinket....) at 26%, and after that (below 25%) I get some Trinket procs, use TF and Potion... To get the "stronger" Rip should I just refresh it with FB, or do I have to re-apply 5CP RIP even below 25%?

Based on the info from the topic, I assume the new application of 5CP Rip is mandatory to get it stronger for the rest of the fight... It that correct?

Let's assume that I apply "weak" Rip (no TF, Potion, trinket....) at 26%, and after that (below 25%) I get some Trinket procs, use TF and Potion... To get the "stronger" Rip should I just refresh it with FB, or do I have to re-apply 5CP RIP even below 25%?

Based on the info from the topic, I assume the new application of 5CP Rip is mandatory to get it stronger for the rest of the fight... It that correct?